New Approaches to Increasing the Oral Cancer Awareness. Stage One: Current Knowledge

Objectives: Oral cancer survival rates have remained unchanged for the past years; this is in part because most cases are not detected until later stages. Misattribution of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer has been found to be the most significant barrier to seeking consultation by patients in a timely manner. Early detection is accomplished through regular oral exams conducted by health care practitioners and informed self-exams. The objective of this study is to assess the current understanding of oral cancer signs, symptoms, and risk factors by patients, and to evaluate the ways patients in different demographics receive their dental knowledge.
Methods: Written surveys were administered to prospective dental patients being evaluated by the school’s screening department. All interested adults were allowed to participate if they had not previously been diagnosed with oral cancer or undergone an oral biopsy.
Results: Administration of surveys and data collection is ongoing. Preliminary analysis showed that while 69% of participants had previously heard of oral cancer, only 30% of the participants had the adequate knowledge of the signs and symptoms of the oral cancer. Only 51% of the participants recognized it as fatal if left untreated and just 16% knew that oral cancer is commonly detected in later stages due to lack of awareness. Most importantly, half of the participants were unaware that dentists can detect and treat oral cancer. Participants primarily received oral health related knowledge from TV or other media.

Conclusions: While our participants had heard of oral cancer, their limited awareness of its presentation and contributing factors remains low. Our data shows that media, not the dentist, was the primary oral health educator of participants. The second stage of this study will evaluate different ways of improving awareness to determine the most effective approach.